Centipede (Millipede
is featured here as
well) was developed
by Atari and
released in 1981.
Along with Pac-man,
this game was as
popular with the
ladies as it was the
guys. In Centipede,
the player was a
gnome like creature
at the bottom of the
screen which was
moved up and down,
and from side to
side, with a track
ball. The goal was
to destroy the
centipede coming
down from the top of
the screen, with
laser shots, before
it reaches the
bottom. When the
centipede encounters
a mushroom on the
screen, it reverses
direction,
ultimately speeding
up its decent. When
it encounters a
mushroom that has
been poisoned by a
scorpion, its decent
is greatly
accelerated. When a
section of the
centipede is hit
with a laser, that
section turns into a
mushroom, and the
centipede then
splits in half and
continues down. The
player loses a life
when the hit by the
centipede, a spider,
or a flea.

There
were a number of
spin-offs and home
versions of this
game over the years,
including the Atari
2600 version. In the
arcade, you might
have run into
similar, less
popular spin-off
versions like
Jackler (1982) or
Slither (1982). In
1982, Atari released
a sequel to this
game called
Millipede. Millipede
was, for all intents
and purposes, the
same as Centipede,
except there were
other creatures,
such as a Bee,
Earwig, Beetle,
Dragonfly, Mosquito,
and DDT bombs.